Hello. Like the site. Matter of fact, just came here after three days of scavenging iBuyPower's site and "support". I'm in the market for a new rig, matter of fact a whole new setup, monitor, mouse, keyboard, except for speakers, as I'm letting go of a 7yr. old PC.. I have a cap of 2,000 total, including taxes. I'm not too savvy on building my own but do know a little about parts. And I stress "little", as I have no knowledge on building my own PC but am somewhat knowledgeable on the components. I like the HAF 922 & Elite 430 chassis's but definitely need some help on a good internal setup (Mobo, GPU, CPU, Memory, Cooling (Air or Liquid, which is less to maintain but effective?). I'll be mostly using it for gaming (COD:MW, Crysis.. etc.) and am looking for a setup that will run just about any game on the market at close to or MAX settings. I'm not to sure on the resolution, as I've been stuck in the "stone-ages" for the last 7 years, as far as computing goes. So I would assume max resolution, which I think on most HD monitors, would be 1920x1080. As far as CPU I'm more fond of AMD, however I seem to be behind on the times, so what gets the job done, will do, so I have no bias when it comes to what "talks the talk" either AMD or Intel. Same with GPU, either ATI or Nvidia. I much appreciate any help anyone knowledgeable can offer and do thank you for your time.

I would not buy a monitor, mouse and keyboard from DS. their warranty won't cover those products and you could find something cheaper on different sites. with that being said what do you think is your budget just for the PC alone? that will give the pro's a better range to work with when creating a build.

yes...living in TX is good for this purpose because you don't pay any taxes just shipping. of course i can't think of any other reasons why living in TX would be good. unless you worked for Bioware and lived in Austin...lol. just joking dude.

Thanks for the recommendation Dragoonseal. I do have a few questions with this setup though. Is AIR cooling more effective at keeping core temps stable in the long run? I say this because eventually I'm sure I'll be upgrading. Also is the GTX 480 better performance-wise than the ATI 5870? I do see that DS pushes Nvidia sales but in a comparison between the 2, it seems that the 5870 is packing more stream processors and core clock speed. I've been out for awhile but not to sure who's holding the reigns now, so to speak, between the 2. And ABSOLUTELY! No sales tax, frees up another 150 or so to put towards the "Modernizing Me" campaign. Lol I've been out of the game for too long.. Thank you for the recommendation!

yes...living in TX is good for this purpose because you don't pay any taxes just shipping. of course i can't think of any other reasons why living in TX would be good. unless you worked for Bioware and lived in Austin...lol. just joking dude.

Is AIR cooling more effective at keeping core temps stable in the long run? I say this because eventually I'm sure I'll be upgrading.

A good liquid cooling setup will cool better (note: not the Asetek unit), but is also significantly more expensive. A good air cooler like one of the Noctua units will get you to very high overclocks (3.7-4.2GHz) with good temps, so they're a great performance:value buy.

Also is the GTX 480 better performance-wise than the ATI 5870? I do see that DS pushes Nvidia sales but in a comparison between the 2, it seems that the 5870 is packing more stream processors and core clock speed. I've been out for awhile but not to sure who's holding the reigns now, so to speak, between the 2.

The 480 most definitely out performs the 5870, especially when you crank up game settings and anti-aliasing. It's a nice match for a 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 resolution because it can max out the vast majority of games at that resolution. A 5870 can max most of them too but chokes out on more of them than a 480 does.

The Noctua NH-D14 is a pretty beastly air cooler, and the HAF 932 case has nice air flow to back it up, so they did most of the work for me. Just gotta work at it for awhile to try to get it stable with as low as voltages as possible, temps can raise surprisingly quick as you raise voltages.

Nice job! I'm starting to wonder if the HAF 922 I was looking at, has enough ventilation.. I'm a little concerned with the the GTX 480 GPU. From what I've read, it's been known to run at near twice the temp of a normal, single card. I've been hearing a lot of issues with this one, idling at 50c in 2d and running at 93c in full 3D. However, it only has a threshold of 105c. With this card I'm wondering if it's going to last, coupled with the drain from the Processor. It seems safe to assume, that SLI will be out of the question, with this card running that hot. And with a 370 watt active pull I'm wondering if a PSU of 750, is going to cut it with just one card..

Not including the possibility of fanboys, it seems they are indeed running hot. But hopefully the AIR cooling setup Dragoonseal mentioned would remedy that. If anyone has a HAF 922 case, maybe you can shed a little light on it's ventilation..?

As for Austin.. Well I don't work for Bioware and I'm not even close to Austin, however I work for someone much bigger than that.

I personally don't have a 480, but from the reviews from the people on this site they say it doesn't run as hot as people think. when it comes to reviews on newegg you have to take that with a grain of salt. i've seen a lot of reviews on there from people that had no clue what they were doing or talking about. plus it would be easy for anti-nVidia people to bash the product. the reviews from the people here i trust more because they are using the PC that was just built for them. which matters more to me since i'll be buying a DS PC.

the 922 is a decent case for ventilation. is the 932 better...yes...but you should be fine with the 922. Dragoonseal is one of the most respected config builders on the site with tons of knowledge. if you wait a little later in the day !ender and ablahblah will be on to add their 2 cents as well. both of them are on their game when it's comes to configs as well.

plus right now ATI drivers are in the pooper. i think it's been the last 2 updates and people have been having problems. on the other hand nvidia is not having hardly any issues. that's the one thing that i've always noticed is that ati may come out with a bitchin' more powerful card but it seems they don't get the support from the industry as much as nvidia does.

It does run warmer than a 5870, but not by much, and the sound difference is negligible, all high end GPUs sound like jets taking off under load regardless.

If you're worried about temps just use a custom fan profile and don't rely on the default one, which likes to prioritize keeping it quiet over keeping it cool. Lilim's 480 idles at 32Â°C at 50% fan speed and hits a max of 79Â°C at 79% fan speed under load (only in very demanding games). Default HAF 932 fans, default 480 fans, nothing special.

I personally don't have a 480, but plus right now ATI drivers are in the pooper. i think it's been the last 2 updates and people have been having problems. on the other hand nvidia is not having hardly any issues. that's the one thing that i've always noticed is that ati may come out with a bitchin' more powerful card but it seems they don't get the support from the industry as much as nvidia does.

So very true. I had a 9800XT Pro on my last PC, which was an outstanding card. That was, until they released driver updates... So I definitely know where you're coming from on that note.

Originally posted by Dragoonseal

Don't believe everything you read on the internet, kids.

Ouch Lilim, give me a little more credit than that lol! I haven't been referred to as a kid for 20 years. I'm not that gullible. Even though not all comments can be legitimate, some are based on truth. Don't get me wrong, even those who made the comment about temperature did not deny that the card outperforms. And I'm not about to be the first. However I don't like to make uninformed decisions, so I'm collecting feedback based on results. Not that I don't believe you or anyone else I'm just trying to plan for the future by choosing a setup that will last. And since it does run a little bit warmer, regardless of the how warm I'm wanting to make sure I'm covering my bases. But you have an excellent point!

A lot of the rumors obout the GTX 480, were from pre-release models, early batch steppings, and full 512 SP. those did run very hot, were very loud, and consumed a ton of power. the final release version is much quieter, much cooler, and uses less power. It still is a pretty hot running, fairly loud GPU, but no worse than some other GPU's in the past. Overclocking them on the stock cooler, will get hot, and loud fast though. lol

also you have to keep in mind that times change rapidly, 85c for a 480 isnt considered that high on a card with a threshold close to 110c.. but just like any other area of the game, as the power increases so does the side effect. A prius is quiter and gets better mileage than a cobra, but which one would you want in a race?

most of the cards that are worth thier money are in line with this, the higher you get in power, the more you raise noise/heat. cards that produce more noise or more heat than they are worth are left in the dust

that said, yes, fermis are warmer than some are used to seeing, but no where near where the marketing and bandwagoning would lead you to believe. and if you dont overclock it, i find it hard to even state that its considerably louder than its competition. i own a 470 and when i play any current games, i cant hear it, (i do wear headphones but not usually too loud). now, when i run benchmarks with it and overclock it, it definitely makes some noise, but that kind of load/stress isnt typical use, just like your processer isnt always at its max temp

Nonsense! You haven't offended me at all. I was just jabbing you're rib with the comment about being referred to as a kid.

@Drunken Monkey and !ender

Both extremely good points. And nice comparison with the Cobra lol! I'm considering having 2 120mm fans put on the top of the case as well, which Dragoonseal had mentioned earlier. I'm also trying to figure how much pull all the components (Mobo + GPU + CPU, peripherals, including 2 120mm fans, blue cathode light, Noctua AIR cooling for the CPU) will put on that PSU and whether 750 will be enough to handle everything non OC'd. Also whether it would still be enough to handle everything if I did decide to OC the processor and GPU with the 750 PSU. I'd like to be able to gear it for the specs of these games,
(COD:MW, Crysis) without having to OC the GPU or CPU for that matter. I really do appreciate everyone's feedback, as I think Dragoonseal gave me an ideal setup. Just trying to make sure I have all my ducks in a row, so to speak.

as far as overclocking, you can certainly avoid overclocking the video card as it is not really needed, however, overclocking your processor is absolutely nessesary, check out the link in my signature if you want more information on that

Oh lol, wow.... During my pursuit of finding a reasonably priced PC I managed to come across quite a few humorous displays of plain ridiculousness. Just thought I'd brighten everyone's day, with this little diddy:

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